Feds raid "Radio Free Santa Cruz" ..an alternative to Clear Channel

Armed federal marshals and Federal Communications Commission agents raided the studio of Free Radio Santa Cruz early Wednesday morning and confiscated all of their equipment after their operating for 10 years as an "underground" station. This is the third such raid in California under Asscrotch's reign. Radio Free Berkley has already felt the sting of the federales.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/30/1411235
http://www.freeradio.org/mpb/tale.html

Although we all know that's not all there is to it.

Granted, I do think the automatic weapons and FBI goon squads are pretty over the top, but the FCC is very strict about pirate signals. They don't mess around when it comes to that.

Pirate signals can interfere not only with other stations, but also emergency services that rely on their sub-carrier frequencies (government, medical services, NOAA, etc.). It could endanger people. More serious than one thinks, though I wish there were an easier way to license low-power stations.

I'm actually surprised they lasted ten years. But Santa Cruz is a very liberal town, and it sounds like they supported the station.

What screws this up is that the owner may not qualify for a LPFM license, since the FCC doesn't allow busted pirates to own them. But someone connected to the station who's hands are clean, by FCC standards, may be able to do this.

Later on, I'll take a look at the LPFM situation in S.C. on the FCC site (which is a pain in the ass to navigate).